Foundations of American Government: Vocabulary and Articles

Foundations of American Government: Vocabulary

Goal: Learn the vocabulary to better understand our unit on Foundations of American Government.

Confederation

A union of people, states, or nations that join together, often with some political power given to a central authority

Constitution

Written rules and principles under which a government is run.

Ratified

Given formal approval

Amendment

An addition or change to a document

Compromise

A settlement of differences by mutual concessions - each side agrees to give up something it wanted

Article

A section of a document

Multiple Choice

What is a confederation?

• Written rules and principles under which a government is run

• A union of people, states or nations that join together, often with some political power given to a central authority

• A group of people taking over a government

Multiple Choice

What is a compromise?

• Given formal approval

• Agreement where one side loses everything.

• Agreement between two sides where both give up something

Multiple Choice

What is a constitution?

• Written rules and principles under which a government is run.

• A union of people, states, or nations that join together, often with some political power given to a central authority.

• A document that declares independence.

Multiple Choice

What does it mean if something is ratified?

• It is turned down.

• It is presented to the government.

• It is given formal approval.

Multiple Choice

What is an amendment?

• An addition or change to a document.

• Approval of a document.

• Turning down a new law.

Articles of Confederation

The Articles of Confederation

• Written in 1776-1777 by the Continental Congress, shortly after America declared independence from Great Britain

• Written to establish the powers of a new national government

Open Ended

What is the purpose of government?

Powers granted by the Articles of Confederation

Power to Declare War

Congress could declare war, which included raising an army and navy.

Negotiate treaties with other countries

This was important after the revolution with the Treaty of Paris.

Declared the name of the new nation

The United States of America

Congress could borrow money

Created the Northwest Ordinance

This created a plan that outlined the ground rules for governing the region to the west, which included land that would later become the state of Ohio.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following was NOT a strength of the Articles of Confederation?

• Government could make treaties

• Strong national government

• Borrow money

• Organized the Northwest Territory (land west of the Appalachian Mts.)

What the Articles of Confederation DIDN'T do.

Created a weak national government

The states wanted to be sure they could control their own interests, so there were very few national laws that applied to each state.

Created a weak congress

Congress could not collect taxes so it had no money to do anything.

Congress could not control commerce - trade between states or trade between the US and foreign countries.

Open Ended

Why is it important for the government to be able to collect taxes? What are taxes used for?

There was no National currency

Each state had its own money. Someone going from one state to another had to deal with different currencies.

One State One Vote

Each state had one vote in Congress. It didn't matter how large or small the population of the state. A small state had just as much power as a large state.

No executive of judicial branches

There was no one to make sure national laws were being followed and now court to interpret and apply the laws.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is NOT a weakness of the Articles of Confederation.

• One state, one vote

• No executive or judicial branch

• Could declare war

• No national currency

Outcome of the Articles of Confederation

Lead to the creation of the Constitution of the United States.

Created the Northwest Ordinance which outlined the plan for adding new territory to the United States AND outlawed slavery in the new territories.